delta-allopregnadiene-3beta-ol-20-one 11, 14-peroxide and esters thereof



A -AL oPREoNAnIENEep-omo-oNE 11,14-

' PEROXIDE AND-ESTERS THEREOF Gerald D. Lanbach, Jackson Heights, N. Y., assignor to Chas. Pfizer & 00., Brooklyn, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware NoDrawing. Original application March 17, 1954, Se-

rial No. 416,936. Divided and this application March 18, 1957, Serial No. 646,571

2 Claims. (Cl. 260239.55)

This invention relates to the preparation of certain novel steroid intermediates useful in the artificial synthesis of therapeutic agents naturally derived from the adrenal cortex and like animal glands and tissues.

The present application is a division of copending application Serial Number 416,936, filed on March 17, 1954.

Several of the steroid-type constituents and derivatives of the adrenal cortex have been shown to be of considerable importance in the control of physiological functions and in the therapy of certain diseasesj It is highly important that synthesis of such compounds from cheap, readily available materials be developed, since the supply of natural vprecursors, e. g. extracts of animal glands, is definitely limited. The most diflicult problem in such a synthesis is to :introduce oxygen at the eleventh carbon position of 1116211811211 cyclic steroid nucleus. It is generallyrecognized that the presenceof .oxygen at this exact position is essential for the high biological activity ofsuch naturally derived compounds as cortisone .and compound F. A number of different methods have been proposed for this oxygen introduction. These :have been briefly reviewed by Kendall in the Annals of the New .York Academy of Science, vol. '50,,pp. 541-542(1949) Many involve a numberiof steps and the overall yields are relatively ,low. Other methods have been proposed that requirethe use of corrosive or highly toxiechemicals, and

in many cases purificationof the products may be difficult. Furthermore, the best of these methods are not readily applicable to thosesteroids which are most widely vention which broadly comprises photoperoxidizing a cyclic steroid compound containing conjugated double bonds at the 9(11), 8(14) positions. The new process is particularly'successful, forinstance, with 6,9(11), 8(14) triene steroids, i. e'. those containing the radical such as isodehydroergosterol C HaC-CH-CH H-CH: 5 H30 H- H-CH! Compounds of this type are and its esters and ethers. 7 described in copending application, Serial No. 222,946, filed April 25, 1951, by Laubach et al., and now abandoned, and in a continuation-in-part thereof, Serial No. 416,935, filed March 17,1954. They are generally prepared by isomerization of 5,7,9(1l)-triene steroids.

Photoperoxidation of the 9(l1), 8(l4)-double bonded steroids yields novel products wherein a peroxide bridge extends'between the C and C positions. Such products thus contain the radical .i

40. a l Similarly, photoperoxidation of the 6,9 l l 8 14) -triene steroids results in new compositions-containing the radical e. g. peroxides of isodehydroergosterol and its esters and ethers. In short, using the well-known ergosteryl acetate as an example, one may dehydrogenate to obtain dehydroergosteryl acetate, isomerize this to yield isodehydroergosteryl acetate, and finally photoperoxidize the isomer to recover isodehydroergosteryl acetate peroxide, or

Patented May 6, 1958 ergosta-6,8 l4) v9( 1 1 22-tetraen-3 ,8-yl acetate 7 peroxide;

This compound may also be called A- -ergostatrien-3fio1 acetate 11,14-peroxide. It has the following formula:

CH; C

AeO

The physical properties of this unusual new compound are as follows:

M. P. 164.6-166.4 C.

[ab-19 (CHCI A 272 my (log e=3.6l) (ether) Analysis:

Calcd. for 0 11 0 C, 76.88; H, 9.46 Found: C, 77.03; H. 9.50

These constants are slightly different from those given in the original application.

As another example of this photoperoxidation reaction, one may start with A -allopregnatrien 3,5 o1 20-one acetate and convert it to A- -allopregnadien-3p-ol- 20-one acetate 11,14-per0xide. The equation for this reaction is as follows:

OH; COCH;

CH: CH:

This novel product has the following physical constants:

M. P. l47.2-l48.6-C. e272=3960 [al +72.6 (CHCI CH: COCH;

A00 AcO The peroxide compounds thus obtained may be converted directly to the corresponding ll-keto steroid compounds by the relatively simple procedure described in copending application Serial No. 368,199, now Patent No. 2,773,885, filed on July 15, 1953, by Gerald D. Laubach et al. This procedure comprises contacting the peroxide with alkali. The result isillustrated by the following equation:

This same application also describes a process for removal of the 14-OH group by acid dehydration, as follows:

CH3 CH:

Compounds of the type obtained by this reaction may then be subjected to selective hydrogenation according to the process described in U. S. Patent No. 2,740,797. This process involves contacting the steroid with hydrogen in the presence of W-7 Raney nickel and an alkaline material. By this method both the 6 and 14 double bonds may be saturated, while neither the double bond at the 8 position, nor double bonds which may be present in a side chain such as that of the ergosterol derivatives, are changed. The following equation illustrates this:

O H Cll this addition of oxygen at 0-11 of the steroid nucleus is by dissolving the chosen steroid in an organic solvent system and contacting the resulting solution with oxygen. The oxygen may be used in the pure state or as it is found in air, or it may be diluted with inert gases. Essentially any known organic solvent which will dissolve the steroid and yet not itself react with the constituents of the reaction system may be utilized. Aromatic hydrocarbons like benzene, toluene, xylene, and so forth; aliphatic or cyclo- I aliphatic hydrocarbons like hexane, low or moderate boiling petroleum fractions, and cyclohexane; or lower alcohols such as ethanol are commercially most desirable, although the lower alcohols have the disadvantage of generally dissolving only a rather limited amount of the steroid. a

The oxygen treatment ofthis steroid solutionis effected in thepresence of an oxidation activator and of light. As the illumination, which is essential for catalyzing theoxidation, sunlight or any artificial source of light which gives approximately the same wave lengths, e. g. incandescent light or a carbon arc, may be used. The dye known as eosin or dyes of related structure are quite suitable to activate the oxygen-addition. Such activators and their function are well known and various alternative materials will readily occur to those skilled in this art. A very small amount of such a compound, say in the order of 0.001% (based on the weight of steroid), is used in commercial operation, but a considerably lower proportion will serve.

This substance may easily be removed from the peroxide product.

In conducting the reaction, the temperature rises more or less rapidly dependingupon the rate of aeration, the

this reaction, a flask sealed from the atmosphere is at-.

tached to a manometer andto areservoir of air or oxygen so that, while the mixture is agitated, the absorption of the oxygen by the reaction mixture may beobserved.

After completion of the reaction, the product may be recovered by any desired means. The solvent is usually removed by distillation and the dry residue washed free of eosin or other activator .with. a solvent like methanol. The product is then recrystallized, such as from a chloroform-methanol mixture according to conventional practice. A yield of at least about '50 percent-of -quitepure crystallineproduct is-thus obtained. If material of extremely high purity is desired, it maybe recovered, for instance, by chromatography of thewcrystalline.imaterial' in petroleum ether -on alumina. After development of the ,column with petroleum .ether, gradually increasing amounts of benzene are added-to portions'of the ether and the product is :finally removed from the :column by means of benzene. Crystals of the desired peroxide of high purity are then obtained by concentrating the ben zene eluate. 1 I

Isolated double bonds not within the cyclic .structure, side chains and other substituent's of the particular steroid generally have -no; deleterious efiect on oxygen-addition. Thus, the side chains attached to the isodehydroergosteroltype steroid nucleus at the 17-position or the 3-position may be considerably varied without interfering with the reaction. Rather than the unsaturated aliphatic side chain at C17, a compound;maybe utilized having a carboxyl, an acetyl,--a .COCI-I OH. group or esters and ethers thereof, a spiroketal gi' up.- or simply an oxygen (i. e. the 17-keto compound) or the like attached at that point. The group at the ;3 position may 'be OH, or an ether or ester group, instead of simply the acetyl group previously mentioned. In alike manner when the group at the 17 position is a side "chain having OH, e. g.

COCH OH, either the free OH or an ester or other availability, cost, ease, of commercial. operation "and value of the isomeric products.

The following example are given by way of illustration and are not-intended as a limitation of this invention. Indeed,.a s.many apparently widely differentkembodiments of the present invention may .be made without departing from the, spirit and scopehereof; itis to be understood that the invention s limited as defined in the appended claims only. v 7 Example I A solution of 1.8 grams (0.0041 mole) of ergosta- 6,8 14) ,9 1 l ,22-tetraen-3fl-yl acetate [a] =74.5 f) in 1.5 liters of ethanol containing 0.010 gram of eosin was irradiated with a 200 watt incandescent bulb for eight hours. 'IEhe -solution was maintained at -35 C. by cooling. vigorous stream of oxygen was passed through the solution during the course of the irradiation. The reaction mixture was then concentrated under vacuum to a mass of colorless platelets, from which most of the eosin dye was removed by trituration with cold methanol.

The peroxide product was obtained as a slightly pink solid, melting POlllt152-154- c. The yield wash-890' gram 146%"). f 'A -portion of this material (0435 g;-) was chromatographed over alumina (activated at '500- 600 C.) in a column with a diameter of 18 mm. After elution of the more soluble contaminants with a'-1:8 benzene-petroleum ether mixture, the desired productwas recovered by elution with 1:4 then 11 :2 benzene-petroleum ether washes and finally withbenzene alone. The combiried fractions containedthe peroxide product in the amount of 0.247 gram. Twostandard recrystallizationsf from methanol yielded analytically pure is'odeh'ydroergosteryl acetate peroxide as colorless platelets, melting point'l'64'.6-l66.4 C.

' Example I] oxygen uptake, as observed on the manometer of the.a p paratus, decreased sharply. After removal of some precipitated eosin, the reaction mixture was concentrated under vacuum to a partially crystalline mass, which on trituration with 20 mlrof cold -80% methanol yielded the desired peroxide as colorless platelets. This product weighedi0;820 gram, indicating a yieldof 87.5 Itwas chromatographed over 24 grams of alumina (activated at 0600?.C.) in a 25 mm. column and impurities were. removed as before'with'petroleum ether, 8:1 petrof leu'm ether-benzene mixture, and benzene alone. The resulting purified isodehydroergosteryl acetate peroxide weighed 0.380 gram, being'recoveredyin a yield of 415% The equation for the reaction in this example'aud in Example I, is as follows:

CH; CH;

M Example 111 1 1'. r M l allopregnatrien-313,21-dio1-20-one diaeetate as procedure of Example II was repeated, using varif l Pi l Oxide formation took 9? ous ester and ether groups in the 3 position instead of prevlously descnbedrandlhe P was the acetate group present in Example II. Useful groups fl diawtate 11,14 l t v I include, forexample, formate, propionate and benzoate 5 equation'for this reaction is asfollowsz on. cocmoao CHI CH:

k l 7 A00 among the esters, and methyl, ethyLand benz fllyamong 2o Example VII the ethers. The reaction was also carriedoutwith the on, cosmos";

3-OH group unprotected. None of these ch ange s in the I The procedure of Example VI was repeated, using group at the 3 position had any effect on the overall various ester and ether groups in the 3 and 21 positions reaction, ,and peroxide formation took place in exactly instead of the acetate groups present in Example VI. the same manner as before. 1 I 25 Useful groups include, for example, formate, propionate Exam '8 IV} and benzoateamongthe esters, andmethyhethyl and J p l f v benzyl amongthe ethers. The reaction was also carried fjThe procedure"of-"Example lluwas repeated, using out with the 3 and 21-OH groups unprotected. None A -allopregnatrien-3B-oLZOPQne-acetate as the of these'changes in the groups at the 3 and 21 positions starting steroid. Peroxide formationtook place as previouslydeseribed, and the; product was A -allopregnadien- 3o formation took place inexactly the same manner as 3fi-ol-20-o'ne-acetate 11, l4-peroxide. The equation for before. '7 this reaction is as'followsz, v What is claimed is: v

COOK, COOK. l. Asteroid compound having the formula COCK: 10

m le v The procedure of 'ExaniplelV.waslrepeated, using various ester and ether groups inthe 3 :position instead of i i p I 7 the acetate-group presentin'Exampl'e IV.. ,Useful groups 5 wherein R is selected from the class consisting of. OH

include, .forrexample,formate, propionate and benzoate and formate, acetate, propionate and benzoa te, ester among the Testers," an'd methyhethyl and beirzyl among groups. a i the ethers. The reaction was also carriedoutrwith the' 2. A compound according to claim 1 wherein R is 3-OI-l group; unprotected. None of these changesin the the acetoxy group. group at the 3 positionhad anyeifect. on the; overall 5, reaction, and peroxideformation toolg place in exactly h smszasm b for 1 r r r I Example VI i The procedure of Example II was repeated using References Cited in the file of this patent Laubach .et at; J. A."'C. s, $1.75, pp. 15141515 (1953). i=1

had any effect on 1 the overall reaction, and peroxide 

1. A STEROID COMPOUND HAVING THE FORMULA 